This website’s original language is English. For translation, click the globe icon or choose Translate in the menu.
136 matching records found
Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--An expert panel of Japan's National Police Agency held its first meeting Monday for discussions on requiring stalkers to wear GPS devices to prevent them from getting near their targets. The panel, made up of lawyers, university professors and family members of stalking victims, will also consider requiring perpetrators to get counseling or visit medical institu...
A deputy mayor in western Japan died after being crushed under a giant float during a local parade, officials said on Monday, a week after two others were reportedly killed at separate traditional festivals. Akihiro Nabae, deputy mayor of the city of Saijo in the Ehime region, was carrying a giant float with other participants on Saturday before becoming trapped beneath it, city and police officials said. He was taken to hospital and later pronounced dead, local media said. The exact...
Tokyo, Oct. 19 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Monday warned against any move to deny preferential treatment being considered for European vehicles in the European Union to Japanese vehicles. The European Union "should treat products made in Japan on an equal footing with those made in the EU," Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference. Germany and France ...
Nagoya, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--The opening ceremony of the first Japan-hosted Asian Para Games took place at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Sunday, officially marking the start of the 2026 Games. About 3,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions are scheduled to participate. The Japanese delegation has entered about 280 athletes. At th...
Tokyo, Oct. 18 (Jiji Press)--The first de facto replacement of a cabinet minister since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office a year ago has exposed the weaknesses of her grip on power. Information crucial to Takaichi's decision on whether to replace embattled former agriculture minister Kazuo Yana did not reach her. This included an allegation that Yana's camp provided free...
China strongly condemned what it called Japan’s “negative moves” concerning the Yasukuni Shrine, saying the actions were a provocation against the postwar international order, according to a Saturday statement from the Chinese Embassy in Japan.
Kurayoshi, Tottori Pref., Oct. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Princess Aiko attended a national conference on disaster management in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, western Japan, on Saturday. The princess, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, listened intently to presentations by five speakers, including a local female firefighter and a female university student who uses picture...
Japan has long established itself as a pioneer of mediation in Southeast Asia. In 1990, for example, its officials helped broker talks between Cambodia’s warring factions, supplementing international efforts to end conflict in the country. Now, Tokyo is seeking to upgrade its diplomatic toolkit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Peace Mediation Unit was set up in March, followed by the launch of the Parliamentary Association for Peace Mediation in May. Around the same time, the...
Airline employees in Japan are experiencing a surge in abuse incidents from customers linked to delays or cancellations of flights or from being refused boarding due to late check-in, according to a survey. Some 30 per cent of ground staff or cabin crew reported bearing the brunt of passengers’ anger over such matters in the past year, according to the survey by the Japan Federation of Aviation Industry Unions released last month, rising from 7 per cent in its previous survey in 2023. In...
Japan is increasingly turning to foreign companies to accelerate its military modernisation, drawing on overseas technology, expertise and production capacity to plug defence gaps that could prove critical in a potential regional conflict involving China. The push has gathered momentum over the past week, with Tokyo confirming a contract for Ukrainian interceptor drones and a multinational fighter consortium preparing to expand its design operations in Japan. French defence giant Thales is also...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--More Japanese companies on Friday made announcements regarding customer data breaches due to cyberattacks. Yamato Transport Co. said that 5.31 million sets of personal information belonging to some users of its deferred payment service were compromised in a breach that the logistics firm had first announced on Sept. 29. The affected personal information, incl...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--The average price of rice sold from collectors to wholesalers in Japan plunged 42 pct from a year earlier to 21,293 yen per 60 kilograms of brown rice in September, the agriculture ministry said Friday. The September figure, which reflects transactions for the 2026 crop for the first time, is still the third highest on record, after those in 2024 and 2025. Du...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi apologized on Friday over the resignation of scandal-hit former agriculture minister Kazuo Yana and vowed to restore public trust in her government. "I feel remorseful, and I take my responsibility seriously for appointing" Yana, who resigned earlier this week, the prime minister said at a meeting of the Budget Committee of...
Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Friday adopted a bill to allow police to analyze remotely communication devices linked to crimes, a fresh measure to prevent damage caused by "tokuryu" loosely organized anonymous criminal groups. The bill would allow police to find out fraud and robbery plans involving tokuryu groups and prevent damage by collecting information throug...
Kyoto, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)--Kyoto District Court on Friday found a 59-year-old gang member not guilty of the 2013 murder of the president of "gyoza" dumpling restaurant chain Ohsho Food Service Corp. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the defendant, Yukio Tanaka, a high-ranking member of an affiliate of Kudokai, a legally designated dangerous yakuza group. According to the indic...
Japan’s Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. is maintaining an elevated cash position as a buffer against volatile global markets and concerns about rising government spending in the country.
Japan’s hopes for a visit by Donald Trump during his trip to Asia next month may be hanging in the balance as relations between China and the United States steadily improve. The US president spent three days in Japan ahead of last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was hailed as a sign of a “new golden age” in the countries’ relationship. But since then Trump’s growing rapport with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has caused...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev has rejected Japan's requests regarding the detention of a Japanese journalist by Russian authorities, the Russian Embassy in Tokyo said Thursday. On Wednesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry summoned Nozdrev and requested information on the matter and humanitarian consideration for the detained journalist, while protes...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday appointed Arata Takebe of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as the new agriculture minister following the resignation of his embattled predecessor, Kazuo Yana. Takebe, 56, a former state minister of agriculture, officially took office after an attestation ceremony at the Imperial Palace in the afternoon. Ta...
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--A majority in Japan support legislation to cut the consumption tax on food and introduce an income-linked benefit program, a Jiji Press opinion poll showed. The poll found that 55.3 pct of respondents supported the legislation while 37.3 pct opposed it. The legislation is designed to cut the 8 pct consumption tax on food to 1 pct for two years from next April...
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama warned speculators that she was prepared to take action in the currency market again if needed, after the yen touched its weakest level against the dollar this month following a heating up of US inflation figures.
Four Russian-held islands keep Japan and Russia from a formal peace treaty, and the frozen conflict now tests the US-Japan alliance in the North Pacific. The post Japan’s Northern Territories Dispute Explained for 2026 appeared first on The Rio Times.
Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Imperial Household Agency on Thursday released the list of approximately 1,700 invitees for an autumn garden party to be hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on Oct. 29. The event will bring together distinguished individuals from various fields and local government officials, and their spouses. Among ...
Japanese Agriculture Minister Kazuo Yana said he had tendered his resignation following allegations of possible vote-buying, lining him up to become the first senior minister in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government to quit over a scandal. The prime minister had resisted calls to have Yana step down after local media reports said he claimed to have cut roadworks funding to municipalities that did not support him in February’s general election. The tide turned after allegations surfaced that...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--Senji Kuroi, a prominent writer of the "introverted generation" in Japan, died of pneumonia on Monday. He was 94. Kuroi, whose real name was Shunjiro Osabe, published "Aoi Kojo" in 1958 while working for Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., now Subaru Corp., after graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1955. In 1970, Kuroi won the Art Encouragement Prize for New A...
Kobe, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--An after-school program in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, is helping children with developmental problems build confidence and independence through theater activities, a relatively unusual approach in the country. The provider of the after-school program, Hokagorubi, offers creative activities through improvisational plays. It was established by Masatoshi...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--About 30 pct of Japan's working population, or some 20 million people, may be eligible for a financial aid program that the government aims to introduce alongside a planned consumption tax cut for food, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday. The figure was calculated based on similar systems in other countries, Takaichi told a meeting of the Budget Commit...
Tokyo, Oct. 14 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged agriculture minister Kazuo Yana on Wednesday to give full explanations on his alleged public offices election law violation. At a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the Japanese parliament, Takaichi said she received a report by phone from Yana on Tuesday ni...
A business delegation from northeastern China has visited a Russian-controlled, Japanese-claimed island off Hokkaido to explore joint economic projects, a move that has prompted protests from Tokyo. Officials and business leaders from Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia’s far east, travelled to Etorofu – known to Russians as Iturup – to survey potential investment opportunities, according to the Sakhalin Oblast government, which oversees the island. Etorofu is the largest island in a...
Japan’s prime minister said on Wednesday she probably spent “three or four more hours” than her male predecessors tackling household duties on top of her already packed daily schedule. “In the morning, I bathe, fix breakfast and then wash dishes, not to mention apply make-up,” Sanae Takaichi, elected last year as Japan’s first woman prime minister, told parliament. “I feel like I’m spending three or four more hours than male prime ministers doing these things.” A self-described workaholic,...